


will your system be alright when you dream of home tonight

by musicspeakstoo



Series: boy you was battle born [9]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 02:47:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17572811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicspeakstoo/pseuds/musicspeakstoo
Summary: After the Clench has been taken care of, Jason and Bruce have a conversation that they may not be able to come back from.





	will your system be alright when you dream of home tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Long time, no see y'all! I am so grateful and appreciative of all the comments and kudos this series has gotten and continues to get. I have been having self-esteem issues regarding my writing so they've been a real source of joy for me.
> 
> This fic is set right after _there's a panic in this house and it's bound to surface_. Title is from Human by the Killers. Characters are not mine, all mistakes are.

Jason sticks around to help sort Gotham out, even once they’ve distributed the cure for the Clench. It had taken everything he had not to scream at Tim after the kid had snuck out only hours after being cured of the disease. Jason’s gonna kill him later.

She may not like Tim, but thank God for the fact that Selina’s better angels won’t allow her to ignore an injured kid. 

She left soon after realizing that Bruce was in no mood to flirt. Azrael took off for who knows where and Dick went to shower in his old room. Tim’s still in the medical wing of the Cave with Alfred fussing over the IV bag in his arm. 

It’s just him and Bruce in the main area of the Cave, but the tension between them makes it seem crowded. Jason is standing awkwardly in the middle, keeping the case holding his old costume in his periphery. The thing has always creeped him out but tonight it’s a reminder of how close they all came from having to put up a second one.

Outlasting Bruce in the silent game has never been one of Jason’s strong suits.

“Sooooooo, the Clench has been beaten, Tim should make a full recovery, and Gotham will live to smog another day. I’d say it’s a job well done.”

“Why are you still here?”

Jason blinks, “Excuse me?”

No one was as good at making him suddenly and blindly furious as Bruce.Bruce turns to him, eyebrow raised expectantly.

“You said so yourself, the crisis is over. There’s no longer any need for you to be here.”

Jason crosses his arms over his chest. “Why do you always talk to me like I’m barely a step above the asshole thugs we regularly go after?”

Bruce sighs like he’d just caught Jason pulling faces behind his back while demonstrating a new move. He gets up and moves toward Jason, who backs up to keep some distance between them. 

“And for that matter,” Jason adds, “what the fuck have you been telling Tim about me? That kid looks at me as if he’s just waiting for me to go around guns blazing.”

Bruce’s mouth tightens. “I was just trying to ensure that he would not make the same mistakes as his predecessor.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jason demands.

“You were such a bright boy, you wore the uniform with pride,” Bruce says, “but there was a recklessness about you I could never curb. You were often more violent than I was comfortable with. When you were gone, I realized these things and swore to never take in a Robin again. I did not account for Tim’s determination and his desire to help. Two things you used to have.”

Bruce’s face is solemn, mournful.

Jason puts his fist through the case.

“Stop treating me like I’m dead!”

Despite his burst of destruction, Bruce is still staring at him like he’s seeing a headstone and not an eighteen-year-old boy. He takes a deep breath.

“Why can’t we be a family again, Bruce? And don’t say it’s because I kill people. I know what some of your friends in the Justice League have done.”

It’s silent for a long time in which Jason thinks about storming off or breaking down and begging to come home. 

Eventually, Bruce quietly says, “I was not counting on your survival.”

Jason’s mouth opens and closes several times.

“What?” he manages, shocked.

“You were in a _coma_ , Jason. They didn’t know how much brain damage you had endured. They didn’t know if you were ever going to wake up. You also flatlined on the operating table. I mourned you.”

There’s a faint note of emotion in Bruce’s voice, but it’s buried under his certainty. 

“So what?” Jason retorts, feeling like all of his emotions are a knot in his throat, “You wrote me off as a lost cause but because I survived you can’t stand me anymore? Or is it because I’m here to contradict the version of me you made up to make yourself feel less responsible?”

Bruce gives Jason a disappointed look.

“I did what I thought was best. Fighting crime comes before everything else, you know that. When you became Robin, you agreed to it. It didn’t look like you were going to survive, but once you recovered you were impossible. You may not want to admit it, but you bear a fair amount of the blame for the way things are now.”

His face is now a careful neutral, “You made your own choices, Jason. The boy I considered my Robin died in Ethiopia. I don’t know what you are anymore.”

With that, he turned his back to Jason and walked deeper into the Cave. Jason looks down at his feet to see the plaque from the case sitting a few feet away.

He’s never looked at it before and with all the lights on it’s easy to read it. _A good soldier_. 

He stares at it, vision blurring, and then kicks it away as hard as he can.


End file.
